Girls Writeups
DAY TWO
by: Chris Van Holmes
Day one of pool play in the girls’ division ended with Disc Northwest astride first place, Denver in control of their fate for second, Moxie and Bacon Bids both at 1-2 and Misces winless at 0-3. The last round of pool play Sunday AM would determine bracket play opponents in the playoffs.
Minnesota faced Cincinnati and Pittsburgh took on Denver. Cincinnati Bacon Bids opened with better pulls than on Saturday and a zone defense that frustrated Minnesota Misces’ down field looks. They took at quick 2-0 lead off the strong handling of Bethany Kaylor and Madison Handley. After several turnovers on the third point, Steph Swartz of Misces picked up a turnover and found Dana Kuatto for an easy score to make it 2-1. Defensive bids by Bacon captain Handley and on field leader Kaylor quickly extended the lead to 5-1. Minnesota cut into the lead with strong handling by Jenna Dailey and downfield receptions of Mara Saltzman. (5-2). Misces was hampered by a lack of focus (drops), insincere pivots and fakes on offense. When turnovers occurred they also failed to get into position on defense. Bacon Bids took the half 8-2.
Misces pulled to open the second half and forced Cinci into more mistakes. On an offensive run, Erika Schmidt pulled down a disc in a crowd, and started the flow that came back to her for the goal. At 8-3 Misces zone faltered, allowing strikes past the side-middles after the swings, leading to an easy Cinci goal. Bacon’s tight cup was then broken by Misces and a long strike from Van Holmes to Kuatto made the score 9-4. But Minnesota couldn’t retain their energy and Bacon Bids scored twice to push the lead to 7 at 11-4 and 12-5. The soft cap horn sounded, leaving MN just 15 minutes to make 7 points in a game to 14. Cincinnati relaxed and Misces responded with three unanswered point to pull with 4 at 12-8. But Bacon bids managed to score down wind to get within 1 point of ending the game. But after the hard cap horn sounded Misces scored to end the game 4 goals short 13-9.
In the other game Moxie’s Ivy Kentzei stepped effectively into a handler position. But numerous turns and Colorado’s effective use of field position with their horizontal stack, gave them a 2-0 lead. Moxie responded with a quick score but miscues and drops by Moxie gave Cutthroat the opportunities to take a
4-1 lead. But in the common thread for this division…..parity in slots 2-5….showed Moxie scored upwind and downwind behind the strikes of Rakers and goals of Bajzek to pull within 1. Impressive passing against the zone with 6 cutthroat players touching the disc ended with a goal strike to Brielle Reiffe. At 5-3 the teams traded goals to half….8-6.
Denver opened the half with a downwind score which was answered by a Moxie corner strike from Elway to Grindle. As the cap horn sounded, Denver’s Elsie Mann, found Alexandra Czastkiewicz with nice flow for the score. At 10-7 it was a game to 12. Back and forth blocks at the upwind goal-line gave Sarah Davis of Cutthroat the disc and she found the wide open Czastkiewicz for the score. After the pull, Denver stifled Moxie’s spread offense and scored quickly on the ensuing turnover to end the game 12-7.
At the end of pool play the standings were:
Seattle 4-0
Denver 3-1
Cincinnati 2-2
Pittsburgh 1-3
Minnesota 0-4
The bottom two teams played for the reward of facing Disc Northwest in the semis with Denver against Cincinnati the other semifinal.
In the first round of the playoffs, Moxie and Misces face each other for a semis berth. Moxie won the first test of field position and went up 1-0. Misces followed suit downwind in the next point to tie the game at 1s. Then Minnesota earned their first lead of the tournament with handler Carli Van Holmes finding Saltzman for yardage, then Kuatto for the score. As Misces went up 3-1 with another goal by Saltzman, Moxie’s sidelines voiced some frustration. The teams traded point to 7-5 as both teams showed flashes of strong offense with solid work and deep strikes. Then Jenna Dailey of Misces closed the half with an interception at the goal line and a perfect inside out pass to the outstanding receiver Brenna Kruse.
Misces opened the second half with an 1980s “Full Tilt” cheer and used the energy to score to Saltzman 9-5 and, after the cap horn sounded, to Kruse (10-5). But careless offense again gave Misces opponents chances and Moxie cut the lead to 3. Saltzman scored again to give Misces insurance as the hard cap loomed. Moxie managed two more goals to end the game down 2. Minnesota moves on.
SEMIFINALS
In one semi, Minnesota pulled to Disc Northwest and stuck with their zone defense to avoid mismatches. A deep huck turnover followed by tight person defense gave Seattle field position and an easy goal. Disc Northwest looked to push the pace of the game by raising their hand, ready to pull within 30 seconds of the goal. But it was in vain as Misces’ Swartz found assist leader Van Holmes who hucked to Kuatto for the quick score and rare tie. Seattle then went on a 5-0 run, much of it carried by the talented Sarah Benditt with impressive flow offense, assists, and goals. At 6-1 Misces’ Hayes D’d the pass attempt up the side-middle and Van Holmes distributed another goal to Brenna Kruse. The teams then traded to half 8-3.
After the half, Disc Northwest was ready to make a statement. They quickly ran the score to 14-3 with contributions from Kawai and Duenas, among others. Minnesota scored once more to Mary Hyland before Disc Northwest closed out the game 15-4.
In the other semi, Cutthroat flowed up the sides of Bacon Bids’ zone until Ellen Want found Alexandra Czastkiewicz for the upwind score. Denver then scored downwind to take a 2-0 lead. But Cincinnati’s Kaylor found her captain Handley for the score to make it 2-1. Cutthroat’s open rotation gave Bacon Bids match up problems and Denver surged to a 5-1 lead. Cincinnati scored again to make it 5-2 and the teams traded to 7-4 when Denver closed out the half 8-4.
Cutthroat opened the 2nd half with a short pull and Cinci scored easily. The teams traded points to 10-6. The next point revealed the effort put out by both teams throughout the weekend. After numerous turnovers, Sarah Davis sighed “Finally that point is over!”. Trading ensued till 13-8, when goals by Bacon’s Liming, Heckel, and Galetta cut the lead to 2. Denver sealed the game at cap 14-11.
FINALS
The finals pitted the tournaments two best and deepest teams, Disc Northwest and Cutthroat, against each other. Disc Northwest had shown itself capable of handling everything opponents threw at them and the tenacious defense of Cutthroat had already proved itself in previous games. Facing Cutthroats hard running person defense on the opening point, Disc Northwest senior Geiss struck deep to Benditt for an easy score. After getting a turn off the pull Disc Northwest showed their strengths by scoring without a turnover through Cutthroat’s tight defense. Seattle’s senior class proved stronger as they pushed the score to 6-0 before Denver was able to respond 6-1. But Seattle followed up and closed out the half 8-1.
In the opening point of the second half Disc Northwest’s offensive line scored on their 3rd possession. Cutthroat responded with nice forehand flow and a goal from Chelsea Cosby to Candace Jones to score their second point. But Disc Northwest demonstrated skills en masse that other teams couldn’t replicate. They all went hard to the disc, pivoted and faked with gusto, and were willing to make quick deliveries to open cutters. This let them open up a 12-2 lead before Cutthroat’s Lien Hoffmann was able to pull down a goal strike from Elise Mann. Denver scored again to end a very long point to make the score 12-4. But not to be denied their expectations, Disc Northwest scored twice more to earn gold 15-4.
DAY ONE
by: Chris Van Holmes
After a night of soaking rain, They YCC girls division awoke Saturday morning to sunny skies and mild breezes. Perfect championship weather. Moxie, from Pittsburgh PHUL, drew girls from 5 schools and were looking for a growing experience. Cincinnati’s 18 team youth league sent Bacon Bids, returning to their second YCC. They were looking to play aggressively and demonstrate good spirit. A young Minnesota team, drawing players from the girls and open teams of Minnesota’s High School Ultimate League, were seeded 2nd and expecting some victories. Denver’s Cutthroat squad was at YCC with no competition under their belts. They are expecting improved skills and hope to establish team chemistry. Drawing a representative squad from Seattle’s perennially strong youth leagues through training camp and coaches selections, Disc NW is gunning for a repeat YCC championship medal.
Round 1
The opening round matched up Disc Northwest (1) against PHUL (5) and Denver (3) against Cincinnati (4) while Minnesota got the first bye. Disc Northwest defended Moxie’s first pass off the pull which led to a quick score. A repeat performance and two skying receptions over defenders resulted in a fast 2-0 lead. The tone of the game was set as Disc Northwest flashed their horizontal stack. An open completion up the middle resulted in the scoring huck to number 22, Leslie Geiss. Moxie’s offense was sputtering while Seattle’s offense was a cut ahead of the defenders. Another long strike, Sarah Benditt to Geiss, put the disc close to the goal where it was worked in by Amie Kawai to Mackenzie Ruoff. Quickly 4-0, Disc NW would not look back. Showing the speed, energy and confident throws expected from Seattle juniors, Disc Northwest rolled through Moxie’s zone and person defenses to an 8-0 halftime margin. The statsheet revealed Disc Northwest's balance with a tally of eight players with goals and 8 players with assists.
Although not reflected in the score, Moxie played hard. Their tough marks and hard running usually generated several turnovers each point. At 13-0 Moxie flowed to the endzone, only to be disappointed by the disc sailing past the receiver. At 14-0, Moxie squandered two scoring attempts with drops, and Disc Northwest closed out the game 15-0.
Meanwhile, Denver’s Cutthroat and Cincinnati’s Bacon Bids started with high energy which was quickly exposed as first round jitters. Back and forth, a field position point with good spacing but poor choices by both offenses resulted in 16 turnovers. Finally, the leadership by Cincinnati’s Bethany Kaylor led to a 1-0 lead by Bacon Bids. The second point was more settled, with Heidi Heckel stopping Cutthroat’s first bomb attempt. Three turnovers later, Denver’s Elisa Mann hooked up with Clara Boland to knot the score at 1. Trying to take advantage of a short pull, Bacon bids handler overthrew the first cutter. Cutthroat set up a 4 corners O. The first pass was longer than the pull but was D’d by Bri Fortney up the line. Cincinnati moved quickly and Jess Tufts hit the speedy Fortney to reward her for her defensive efforts.
Cutthroat set up an H-stack off the ensuing pull but Cincinnati’s standout Bridgette Schreiner poached the lane for an interception D. A good use of outlet passes and swings gave Cincinnati a 3-1 lead. Cincinnati again poached the H-stack but a poorly executed flick swing gave Denver the disc on the goal line. A quick strike made it 3-2. The early jitters reappeared in point 6 as Cutthroat’s defense stifled the comeback cuts. Cincinnati could complete the outlets but not any upfield passes and Denver knotted the game at 3s. At their next opportunity, Cutthroat solved the poaching D on the middle of the horizontal stack by throwing to space and worked it upwind without a turnover for a 4-3 lead. Unfortunately, their downwind pull didn’t reach half field and Bacon’s hard cuts to the line responded with and upwinder of their own.
Cincinnati’s pull was much better and backed by a zone defense. The patient O of Cutthroat gave them field position and another shortfield D gave them the score and the lead 5-4. With a better pull this time, Cutthroat kept Bacon Bids out of striking range of the endzone and longer looks by their handlers gave them an easy score and a two point lead 6-4. On the next upwind pull by Cutthroat, a combination of offsides, a good roll and sprinting defenders resulted in hotly contested swing passes and it looked like Cincinnati was in trouble. But a deep strike pulled Bacon bids to within 1. On the next point Denver surged to the goal-line but a milk attempt resulted in a drop and Cincinnati’s Kayla Fry found Jess Tufts to tie the game at 6s.
The rest of the half found Cincinnati failing to play for field position. Their tight rotation with Kaylor, Heckel, and Shreiner playing nearly every point exposed tired legs and Denver closed out the half 8-6 with strong contributions from Clara Boland’s forehand.
Bacon Bids came out ready for the 2nd half and Kaylor D'd three scoring attempts. But the fourth was the charm for Denver as they went up 9-6. After turning the disc to Denver, Bacon Bids played stifling defense. Shreiner picked up the turnover and hit Fry in the corner for a 1 pass scoring possession to cut the lead to 2. Although Cinci's Forney set the tone on D and #00 Madison Handley played keep-away with Kaylor, Denver scored on a long strike after a turnover to go up 3. During the next see-saw possession, the soft cap horn blows and Cincinnati is galvanized with the need to score. A one pass possession again gets them to within 2. Its 10-8, game to 12.
After an endzone huck by Cutthroat is stymied, Jenna Galetta (19) intercepts Kaylor’s pass and strikes for an instant assist and another 3 point margin. A very short pull by Denver gives Cincinnati great field position and they score with no trouble. Jitters re-appear for Cutthroat as their huck play off the pull is dropped. Kaylor, open at will, and Jess Tufts work it downfield to Kayla Fry for a 1 point game. The next point saw Denver sending a floater to the endzone. It looks like a perfect opportunity for Bacon bids to get the D but Denver somehow hangs on to the hospital pass to win the game 12-10.
Round 2
The second round matched 1-0 Denver against 1-0 Disc Northwest while the frustrated 0-1 Moxie girls faced the untried Minnesota Misces. Disc Northwest scored quickly with a one pass goal and shut down Cutthroat’s cloggy O on the next point to take a quick 2-0 lead. It looked like a repeat performance by Seattle. But on the next point Cutthroat’s handlers ran by Disc Northwest with 4 quick strikes up the forehand sideline to score. On the next pull hard D by Cutthroat generates turnovers and a strike to #10, Julia Snieder, scores. Game on, 2-2. Disc Northwest responds with 5 goals of their own with Callie Mah showing defensive skills and Benditt demonstrating amazing flow and touch. Seattle tried zone at 7-2 and Cutthroat made them pay with a third goal. But a very nice clear and fill cut in the spread offense gave Disc Northwest an 8-3 halftime lead. After the half, Cutthroat came out in zone but Seattle easily hit receivers over the middle and then struck deep to surge ahead by more. They never looked back and won 15-3.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, threw off their first round drubbing and scored quickly against Minnesota to score their first goal of the tourney. Misces responded in kind the next point to tie the game. Moxie turned to a match up zone to befuddle Misces’s downfield looks and quickly jumped to a 3-1 lead. Not to be denied, Minnesota’s Carli Van Holmes took the pull, struck quickly to Erika Schmidt, who found Ashleigh Hayes at the goal-line. The lead is cut to 1. Trying their own zone, Misces forces the turn and knots the game at 3-3. Back to the well, Misces shows zone again but Moxie‘s Maria Bajzek finds Chelsea Grindle for an easy goal. With both teams showing tough defense and capable offense, they trade points to 5-5. But Moxie shows the match up zone again and pulls ahead 7-5. Showing more patience, Misces works the next point carefully for a goal, 7-6. Then Moxie threw a deep zone defender into the mix. The change in defense caught Misces by surprise and they turned the disc, Moxie closes the half 8-6.
Moxie finds success with the zone to start the half and extends their lead 9-6. Hulling defense on the next point pushes Misces in to their own endzone and an errant pass is picked off for the Callahan and a 10-6 lead for Moxie. Looking for offensive production, Misces’s Geneva Martin finds Dana Kuatto for a quick goal. Moxie’s Emily Fisher responds in kind to Maria Bajzek. Again facing the zone, Misces’ Jenna Dailey and Geneva Martin carefully handle the disc with popper strikes through the middle to Mara Saltzman. Near the goal, Mary Hyland finds the athletic Kuatto for the goal 11-8. During the next goal Dailey shows off her breakmark flicks against Moxie. With a well balanced attack where every player touched the disc, Misces closes to within 2. Moxie turns the next pull against Misces’ determined zone defense and Van Holmes hucks another score to close the gap to one, 11-10. During the next point, choppy offense and confusion about the rules put the disc into Moxie’s best thrower’s hands. She quickly threw long downwind to push the lead back to two. Pittsburgh tightened their cup defense during the next two points and stifled Misces handlers. Turns near the goal line lead to two quick scores and a 14-10 lead. Needing to score quickly with time running out, Van Holmes again hucks the disc. An easy score takes the game to 14-11. With hard cap approaching, Minnesota scores again. A final point is played and the game ends 14-12 in Moxie’s favor.
Round 3
Round three matched up Minnesota (0-1) against Denver (1-1) and Disc Northwest (2-0) against Cincinnati (1-1). Disc Northwest showed more of the same. Strong athletic play put Disc Northwest a step ahead of Cincinnati. Their good defensive positioning resulted in few continuation looks for Cincinnati and their confident pivots, fakes, and deliveries lead to easy scores. Kawai received mid-range passes repeatedly for devastating effect. They also showed continued balance on offense, distributing passes, goals, assists and play time evenly. Winning half 8-1 the Seattle team rolled again to a 15-2 victory.
Cutthroat opened the game with intense defense, leaving Minnesota with few options. They quickly jumped to a quick 2-0 lead and soon extended it to 5-0. Misces dug in their heels and scored with the Van Holmes, Kuatto, Hayes combination to get on the board. Using repeated deep looks to Brenna Kruse, Misces scored again. The next point was a hell point won by Cutthroat, taking a 4 point lead at 6-2. Responding to need, Van Holmes tossed a well read pass huck to Frieda Manthei who threw the goal to Kuatto, 6-3. Striking while the iron was hot, Mary Hyland hucked to the diving Brenna Kruse who flipped another goal to Kuatto. 7-4. But Cutthroat responded again with tough defense and extended the halftime lead to 4.
After the half, Minnesota again struck deep to Kruse twice – once for the score to take it to 8-5 and a second time for a timeout at the goal-line. But a turnover on the high count gave the disc back to Denver and they went up 9-5. With the sideline calling for more hucking offense, Minnesota responded with the same combination for goals. Birthday girl Sara Straton to Kuatto to KaylaAnne Glick. With the caps approaching Misces had closed the lead to two, 9-7. But balanced offense gave Denver an easy goal to go up 10-7. With time running out, Misces last huck attempt falls short and Denver closes the scoring to win 11-7.
Round 4
In the last round of the day, Disc Northwest (3-0) vs. Minnesota (0-2) and Pittsburgh (1-1) vs. Cincinnati (0-2). Misces started with a zone and generated five Seattle turnovers in the first point before Leslie Geiss was able to sky over Erika Schmidt deep for the score. Misces couldn’t find a way to score but repeatedly kept Disc Northwest out of the endzone while the score crawled to 5-0. But finally, Misces cutter Ashleigh Hayes found another standout receiver, Kruse, for Minnesota’s first score. Staying with the zone, Misces was faced with quick short penetrating passes by Seattle’s handlers. Kept off-balance, the zone never got into position to slow down the offense and Disc Northwest scored quickly 6-1. In the next point, Sabrina Duenas of Disc Northwest showed off her speed to score going away making it 7-1. During the next point Misces managed a quick strike from Steph Swartz to Kuatto for a 7-2 result. At 9-2 Minnesota shows some grit and contests every pass Disc Northwest puts up. But hard marks, diving Ds and the pressure are all handled by Disc Northwest as they score again to go up 10-2. Misces manages to score once more as the soft cap horn blows to get three goals. Disc Northwest closes out the game at 15-3. An interesting matchup from this game was the athletic Duenas from Disc Northwest vs the equally talented Kuatto from Minnesota. They traded diving and skying Ds, tough receptions and powerful plays throughout this game. Look for both of these players to make some noise on Sunday.
In the other game, Cincinnati laid the game on the shoulders of their core players: Forney, Tufts, Kaylor, Martin, and Steiner. This gave them a strong start and a 3-0 lead in a game to avoid the cellar. Moxie responded to open their scoring with Anna Rakers finding Kara Stover over the middle who struck for a goal to Chelsea Grindle, 3-1. After trading turnovers, Cincinnati’s Tufts struck 40 yds deep with a perfect forehand flick to the imposing 6 footer Katie Liming. Cincinnati was in firm control 4-1. Following a strong pull by Anne Culhane, Cincinnati’s zone generated a quick turn. Smooth flow from gave Bacon Bids a 5-1 lead. Moxie responded with nice movement of their own but a high count forced an errant throw and Cincinnati extended their lead 6-1. During the next point Moxie won the battle for field position and scored to make it 6-2. The game became a “War Between the Zones” and both teams put together well crafted offenses to trade goals to half, 8-4.
Moxie opened the second half with solid defense and struck first to make the score 8-5. Bri Forney and Katie Liming hooked up to push the score to 9-5. Tough D put the disc into the hands of Moxie’s Bajzek who ran a strong give and go with Nicole Elway for a score. Moxie scores again quickly to close within two, 9-7. But on the next point an errant throw gives Bacon Bids zone the disc and they flow through their starters Heckel to Kaylor to Liming for the score. Looking for change, Moxie switches to their zone with 3 in the cup and 4 match up defenders. It generates the D and the disc moves smoothly through fresh hands as Ivy Kentzei contributes to an assist to Grindle to make it 10-8. Moxie’s coaches insert their “All Mount Lebanon” lineup that close the gap 10-9. Bacon Bids looks repeatedly to their stalwart leader Kaylor and she steps up big now. With just 10 minutes before cap she stuffs and scores regaining their 2 point lead. Responding with strong and fresh legs in an open rotation, Moxie scored quickly without a turn. Leaving the line in, Moxie traded turnovers with Bacon Bids. But when Kaylor had the chance, she scored decisively to Tufts to keep Moxie at bay 12-10. The next point, one of field position, was won by Cincinnati 13-10. Despite their tight rotation and occasionally tired looks, Bacon Bids controlled the end of the game to win pulling away 15-10.
After 4 rounds of 5 are complete the outcome is still quite muddled. Disc Northwest has won the pool in convincing fashion, 4-0. Denver is 2-1, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati are 1-2 and Minnesota is 0-3. Round 4 has Denver vs. Pittsburgh and Cincinnati vs Minnesota. If Pittsburgh and Minnesota both lose there will be a 3-way tie for seeds 2-4 among Cinci, Denver, and Pittsburgh with Minnesota claiming the fifth spot. If Denver and Minnesota win, there will be a three-way tie for seeds 3-5 among Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Minnesota with Denver clinching the #2 slot. Plenty of excitement for tomorrow morning at 8:30!
